Who is a full service traditional storyteller? Well to answer this question let’s break it up into two; full service storyteller and traditional storyteller.
A traditional storyteller is someone who tells (not reads) stories from the oral tradition. These are stories from the preliterate societies.
A full service storyteller is someone who can tell any type; folktale, myth, legend, personal, fact-based, children’s story. While they may have a leaning and preference towards one type or another they have all sorts of stories in their repertoire.
While audiences of all ages like listening to stories and aren’t really bothered if a story is myth, legend or folktale from an academic perspective it is valuable to know what the distinctions are.
Here is what I have learned:
Folktales: These are simple stories that were passed down orally from generation to generation for the purpose of teaching morals and lessons in an entertaining way. The listeners get the most delight out of these stories when they can suspend belief and be transported into the world of fairies, talking animals and magic. Fairy Tales, Fables and Wisdom Tales are types of Folktales. While some people use folklore synonymous with folktales the two are different. Folklore is the collective culture of a group of people and includes art, music, architecture, textile and of course stories. These stories could be myths and legends of that culture as well as folktales.
Some examples of folktales would be Cinderella, The Scorpion and the Frog, The Boy Who Cried Wolf.
Myths: Myths are stories about gods and goddesses, heroes and how the world was created. At some time these stories were considered to be true and a religious belief for the people of that culture. Like the Greek, Roman and Norse myths. The myths from India are still a living religion for the majority of the people living in India and the diaspora.
The Hero’s Journey story structure by Joseph Campbell is a useful tool to map the hero myths (and other types of stories). The Labors of Hercules is an example of a myth that can be mapped to the hero’s journey story structure.
Some examples of myths are, Prometheus and the Theft of Fire, Romulus, Remus and the She-Wolf, Odin's Lost Eye, Lord Rama and the Army of Monkeys.
Legends: Stories of real people and events that took place a long time ago. While the people and events are real the story about them may be exaggerated and not completely factual.
As a full service storyteller the teller may also have some urban legends in their repertoire. However, these are not considered traditional stories because these stories are set in contemporary times and circulated as if it is the truth. These stories are usually spooky and chilling.
Examples of legends would be King Arthur and the Round Table, George Washington Chopping the Cherry Tree.
While I am a storyteller and not a narratologist I do think learning and discussing what makes one type of story different from another is interesting. I say discussing because sometimes the lines between the types are not clear. However, I do not have to be a narratologist to know that the Prometheus and the Theft of Fire is a myth and not a folktale.
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